This policy brief is prepared within the framework of the Open Society Georgia Foundation’s in-house project “Monitoring Implementation of the EU-Georgia Association Agreement by the Coalition of Civil Society Organizations”.
The new EU-Georgia Association Agenda (AA) provides short-term and long-term priorities for joint work to achieve the objectives set by the Association Agreement in the period 2017-2020. Enhancing gender equality and ensuring equal treatment for women and men in social, political and economic life are part of the short-term priorities set out by the AA. Specifically, Article 349(e) of the EU-Georgia Association Agreement highlights the importance of equal opportunities and anti-discrimination, aiming at enhancing gender equality and ensuring equal opportunities between men and women. Obviously, the economic development of the country is very dependent on women’s economic empowerment. To date, however, no consistent policy on this issue exists in Georgia.
Furthermore, over the last ten years, no state programme focusing on the economic empowerment of women has been implemented. Georgia faces many challenges to address this issue, including women’s limited access of financing; the invisibility of economic violence; the low level of women’s agency; unrecognized, invisible family labour; and the non-engagement of the corporate sector in the process of women’s economic empowerment. This policy brief outlines the core challenges related to women’s economic empowerment; provides a concise description of the relevant legislative framework and international obligations; and overviews existing economic policies and practices.